What the Hell? Who am I?

Months ago I spit into a small, screw-topped vial

containing a preservative solution and sealed it in a small box.

Then I chased down the receding mail truck and handed it to our mail lady.

It took a long time for Ancestry to analyze my results,

and when they arrived, I was shocked.

Let me tell you right up front that I'm not adopted, illegitimate, or have unexpected siblings,

but my results convulsed my cherished family tree and made me question who I am.

The Double Helix Structure of DNA

Wikimedia

This wasn't the first time I had my DNA analyzed.

Since I couldn't contribute to the gene pool by having children,

I thought the least I could do was participate in Phase Two

of National Geographic's Genographic Project, Geno 2.0.

The Genographic project was an exciting and ambitious attempt

to determine our human origins and to trace our migrations as we populated the earth.

How could I not contribute my DNA to the effort to map humankind's genetic history?

Almost half a million people from more than 130 countries

participated in the first phase of the  Genographic Project.

This provided an unprecedented look into humankind's journey.

The second phase, Geno 2.0, provided deeper insight into our genetic history

by examining DNA samples for nearly 150,000 DNA identifiers or markers.

These markers revealed rich ancestry-relevant information.

(Source:  National Geographic booklet Geno 2.0:  Your Story.  Our Story.  The Human Story.)

  

By the time National Geographic retired its Genographic Project,

1,006,542 individuals in over 140 countries had participated in the project.

Individuals were classified by "assessing their proportions

of genomic ancestry related to nine ancestral regions: 

East Asian, Mediterranean, Southern African,

Southwest Asian, Oceanian, Southeast Asian,

Northern European, Sub-Saharan African, and Native American."  (Wikipedia)

I'll bet many people like me were most curious about their individual origins.

Joining the Human Story

Myrtle Louise MacBeath

with her parents, Sara and Don MacBeath

March 1950

© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue

All Rights Reserved

National Geographic's results were less surprising to me

than Ancestry's, but none-the-less fascinating.

National Geographic compared my DNA affiliations with those of the nine world regions.

They used my entire genome and could see

my mother and father's information going back six generations.

The data showed recent and ancient genetic patterns in my DNA

due to human migrations and mixing over thousands of years.

National Geographic pointed out that the results 

didn't necessarily mean that I belonged to these groups,

but that these groups were a similar genetic match.

So here goes!

My Regional Ancestry (500-10,000 years ago):

First Reference Population:  German

Second Reference Population:  British (England)

German                                     British                                       Me 

46% Northern European           49% Northern European           44% Northern European

36% Mediterranean                  33% Mediterranean                   37% Mediterranean

17 % Southwest Asian             17% Southwest Asian               17% Southwest Asian

My dominant Northern European component likely reflects

the earliest settlers in Europe, hunter-gathers who arrived over 35,000 years ago,

while the Mediterranean and Southwest Asian components reflect early farmers moving

into Europe from the Fertile Crescent in the Middle East over the past 10,000 years.

Perhaps this explains my strange affinity for the Assyrian Collection in the British Museum. 

Ancient Nimrod calls to me every time I set foot in London.

Ancient Nimrod in Assyria Beckons

British Museum, London, UK

September 10, 2018

© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue

All Rights Reserved

 

As you may know, all living women have a direct maternal ancestor

who was born some 180,000 years ago in East Africa.

Mitochondrial Eve is the root of the human family tree,

and she generated two lineages known as L0 and L1'2'3'4'5'6.

Each lineage has a different set of genetic mutations that its members carry.

Eventually the L1'2'3'4'5'6 lineage produced the L3 Branch

on our common family tree about 67,000 years ago.

While many L3 members stayed in Africa, some dispersed in different directions.

My distant L3 ancestors migrated north and were the first modern humans to leave Africa.

They created two macro-haplogroups (M and N) that populated the rest of the world.

Basically a haplogroup is an ancestral clan that tells

where your ancestors came from deep in time. Ancestralfindings.com

At the risk of over-simplifying very complicated

and sometimes controversial migration patterns,

I'll generalize that the Macro-haplogroup M Branch wandered east throughout Asia

and the Macro-haplogroup N Branch wandered north into Europe.

The Peopling of Eurasia

Wikimedia

  

My "ancestral clan," the western Eurasian N Branch,

migrated across the Sinai Peninsula about 60,000 years ago,

having followed the Nile basin out of Africa, 

likely because of its reliable water and food resources.

They probably co-existed with other hominids in the eastern Mediterranean region

and western Asia, such as the Neanderthals, hence my 2.0% Neanderthal DNA.

Thousands of years later, descendants of my N Branch group followed migrating herds

into unexplored territories surrounding the Middle East.

Eventually they roamed north out of the Levant, crossed the Caucasus Mountains,

arrived in southeastern Europe and the Balkans,

and went on to populate the rest of Europe.

Of course, I had to have a complication in my family tree, the R Branch.

This group, dating back to 55,000 years ago, migrated all over the place

including into areas where the N Branch roamed.

In all likelihood, the N and R lineages radiated out of the Near East together,

and geneticists are currently trying to sort out the tangled mess.

About 41,000 years ago, descendants of my R Branch formed the RO Branch,

a group that lived throughout West Asia.

Descendants of my RO Branch gave rise to my ancestors, the pre-HV Branch.

Its members lived around the Red Sea and throughout the Near East,

with its highest numbers in Arabia.

Over several thousand years, my pre-HV ancestors gave rise to

the HV Branch, a west Eurasian haplogroup found in Turkey,

the Caucasus Mountains of southern Russia, and the Republic of Georgia.  

Caucasus Mountains

Freeworldmaps.com

My H Branch of ancestors descended from my HV Branch about  28,000 years ago, 

and it washed into western Europe as a wave of migration,

bringing with it significant innovations in tool making, preparing skins, and woodworking.

Around 15,000 to 20,000 years ago, my H Branch of ancestors 

retreated into the Iberian Peninsula, Italy, and the Balkans

because colder temperatures and a drier global climate caused the last Ice Age.

After the ice sheets began their retreat about 15,000 years ago,

my ancestors quickly moved north again and recolonized western Europe.

National Geographic indicated that the highest percentage of the H Branch

currently found in Europe is in Ireland where the line makes up 61% of the population.

Heatmap for H ~ National Geographic Genographic Project.

Somewhere among my rambling deep ancestors, I picked up 1.4% Denisovan DNA.

According to history.com, "Modern humans and Denisovans likely met

for the first time in Eurasia some 40,000 to 60,000 years ago,

after Homo sapiens began their own migration out of Africa."

As for those shocking Ancestry DNA results?

Throughout my life I have proudly proclaimed my Scottish ancestry

on both sides of my family, MacBeath and MacDonald.

My family's clan connections could people a Roll Call of the Clans

at the Antigonish Highland Games in Nova Scotia,

the oldest continuous highland games outside of Scotland.

Somewhere a smidgen of French and Dutch snuck in.

The ancient home of my MacBeath ancestors

is the western coast of Scotland and the Hebrides Islands. 

Motto: Conjuncta virtuti fortuna

Motto Translation: Good fortune is allied to bravery

House of Names

The ancient home of my MacDonald ancestors

is the west highlands of Scotland and the Hebrides Islands.

Motto: Per mer per terras

Motto Translation: By land by sea

House of Names

I'll spare you the rest of my Roll Call of the Clans!

Well, my shock is that I'm only 49% Scottish!

Those ancestors DO hail from the Scottish Highlands and Islands,

the outer Hebrides, and the Isle of Skye.

But Ancestry indicates that I'm 41% Irish!

The news convulsed my cherished family tree.

Who the hell am I?

Someone close to me has been chortling

there was a leprechaun in the woodpile somewhere in my past.  

(And that someone is definitely Irish.)

Wikimedia

The remaining 10% of of my ethnicity includes

5% from Northwestern Europe, 3% from Germanic Europe, and 2% from Norway.

I broke the news to my siblings:

Donnie, I have shocking news...

Bertie, I have some shocking news, shocking to me, maybe surprising to you...

Barb, I have news that's going to shock you...

Roy, sit down.  I have bad news...

Wow!  It didn't rock their worlds like it rocked mine.

Not even my brother Royal Stewart MacBeath.

Barb and I got into a heated debate

over the origin of the leprechaun in the woodpile.

I'm going with our Grandfather MacDonald's line.

She's going with our Great Grandfather Pratt's line.

Barb's going to have her DNA done by Ancestry too.

She suggested that perhaps she and the rest of my siblings

have different DNA from mine, more Scottish.

I reminded her that she's the one who's been nicknamed the Milkman's Daughter.

She says she's a throwback to the Pratts and that my Scottish genes

were altered by the survivors of the shipwrecked Spanish Armada.

Aren't sisters fun?

But we come by our vigorous discussions legitimately.

I'll never forget my mother firing a raw egg at my father,

because he was singing "The Campbells Are Coming" to tease her.

I think it was his line, "The Campbells are coming, MacDonalds are running," 

that prompted the egg splattering on her target. 

A little later we all sat down for a peaceful scrambled egg breakfast,

although my father couldn't resist humming a few provocative bars here and there.

I wonder what my parents would think about potential Irish origins? 

We Five

Louise (Me), Roy, Barb, Donnie, and Bertie 

Boar's Head Lighthouse, Tiverton, Nova Scotia

August 3, 2015

© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue

All Rights Reserved

This ancestral setback of mine bears digging into.

I'll keep you posted (depending on what I find out ~ LOL!)

Till next time ~
Fundy Blue



On the Bay of Fundy
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved